In this week's Georgia Straight, there's a feature article on epidemiologist Dr. Danuta Skowronski. She has played a leading role in the development of a system used around the world to monitor the performance of flu vaccines.

Women’s health advocates are calling on policy-makers and medical professionals to take notice of a local study that found women have a greater perception that their health-care needs are not being met compared to men.

No one should ever have to fear going to work every day. No one should have to worry about violence, humiliation, the threat of robbery, or arrest. And yet this is what sex workers in Canada must deal with, despite Canada’s prostitution law that claims to help them by criminalizing only their clients, and assuming that sex workers are all victims.

Sex workers and other marginalized demographics have always bore the brunt of cultural stigma around HIV. More than thirty years after the onset of the AIDS epidemic, the disease persists, with real people paying the price.

From November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women until December 10th, Human Rights Day, global organizations are participating in 16 Days of Activism to catalyze action to end violence against women and girls around the world.

Dr. Shira Goldenberg, is a Research Scientist with the Gender & Sexual Health Initiative of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and an Assistant Professor in the Simon Fraser University Faculty of Health Sciences. Her research aims to improve sexual health and access to healthcare for marginalized populations, including migrants, sex workers, and women living with HIV in Canada, Latin America, and other international settings.